Lawyers for suspected members of a Turkish al Qaida cell will make their closing arguments today in the Istanbul bombing trial.

The leader of the Turkish al-Qaida cell blamed for last November’s suicide bombings in Istanbul that killed the British consul has been blown up in Iraq, it was claimed today.

The wife of an alleged ringleader of a Turkish al-Qaida cell believed to have plotted last year’s deadly suicide bombings in Istanbul told a court that her husband was a murderer and she wanted a divorce.

The trial of 69 suspected members of a Turkish al-Qaida cell charged in a string of November suicide bombings in Istanbul opened today, but the court quickly ruled that it did not have the authority to hear the case and that any judgment would have to come before another court.

Dozens of suspected members of a Turkish al-Qaida cell were going on trial in Istanbul today accused over a series of suicide bombings in the city that killed 61 people including the British Consul-General.